Labor Relations

Grievances And Requests For Reconsideration

Generally, all non-disciplinary disputes between a Unit 4 employee or APC, on the one hand, and the CSU, on the other, concerning issues covered by the APC-CSU Collective Bargaining Agreement must be raised in a “grievance.” Moreover, pursuant to the contractual grievance procedure, such a grievance must be resolved through “final and binding” arbitration before a neutral arbitrator. This means that, with a few narrow exceptions such as discrimination, the grievant cannot sue the CSU in court for any contract violations, be it instead of, in addition to, or after completion of a grievance.

Our Collective Bargaining Agreement defines a “grievance” as “a written allegation by the grievant that there has been a violation, misapplication, or misinterpretation of a specific term of this Agreement” by the CSU and that “he/she has been directly wronged by [the] violation”: No harm, no foul. Importantly, a grievance must be filed “twenty one (21) days after the employee knew or reasonably should have known of the event giving rise to the grievance”: If the grievance is not filed by then, the grievant may lose altogether or may lose part of the remedy to which s/he might otherwise be entitled.

On this page, you can learn about grievances that APC has pursued in the past or is now pursuing. You can read summaries of arbitration decisions or these decisions themselves that clarify your rights under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. This page also provides information on how to file grievances or use the “reconsideration procedure,” a mechanism for the resolution of non-contractual disputes about “written CSU policy governing working conditions or work rules.” Please also visit our Educational Library, which contains information about related issues, such as “disciplinary action,” which has its own procedure.

How to File a Grievance

The “grievance procedure” is spelled out in Article 10 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. This procedure specifies that “[i]f the potential grievance is not resolved through informal discussions, the employee may file a formal Level I grievance with the President no later than . . . twenty-on (21) days after the employee knew or reasonably should have known of the event giving rise to the grievance.” While an individual employee may thus file a grievance on his or her own, we strongly recommend that you contact an APC representative before doing so. Note that only APC, but not the individual employee, may appeal a grievance to arbitration, and APC may decide not to do so if the grievance was initially mishandled by an employee who did not seek APC’s assistance at an early stage. Remember: The grievance procedure is tricky, and it is easy to mishandle a grievance early on, which may make the grievance a “loser” from the get-go. The grievance procedure is explained in this Handout(for stewards only).

Generally, all non-disciplinary disputes between a Unit 4 employee and the CSU not concerning issues covered by the APC-CSU Collective Bargaining Agreement must be raised in a “request for reconsideration.” The “reconsideration procedure” is spelled out in Article 5 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. This procedure covers any “alleged violation, misapplication, or misinterpretation of a specific written [campus or systemwide] CSU policy governing working conditions or work rules. For example, “reclassification” is, for the most part, not covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement, but by CSU policies. Therefore, a Unit 4 employee who wants to appeal the denial of a reclassification request must file a reconsideration request rather than a grievance.

The main difference between a request for reconsideration and a grievance is that a request for reconsideration, unlike a grievance, does not end in final and binding arbitration before a neutral arbitrator. Instead, it ends in a response from the Chancellor’s Office that “shall be a final decision.” Obviously, this is a large drawback of this procedure. As with a grievance, a request for reconsideration must be filed “no later than twenty-one (21) days after the employee knew or reasonably should have known of the event giving rise to the request.”And as with a grievance, while an individual employee may file a request for reconsideration on his or her own, we strongly recommend that you contact an APC representative before doing so.